Warren County Fiscal Court has approved the first reading of a $39.6 million budget for the next fiscal year.

The budget, if passed on second reading, would take effect July 1 and is roughly $3.1 million more than the current budget. It calls for increased spending for employee benefits such as retirement and Social Security, debt related to the development of a commercial kitchen and the recreation and culture fund.

Total spending on administration in the proposed budget is roughly $2.3 million, while the current budget calls for spending about $2.1 million.

Of all administration expenses, retirement saw the largest increase. While the current budget allocates $406,368 to Kentucky Retirement Systems, the proposed budget would allocate $568,036. Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said this is because Kentucky’s retirement rate has increased.

“Retirement has gone up over the last year,” he said. “We’re trying to keep up with state rates.”

Other administrative costs that will climb if the budget is approved include workers’ compensation, from $61,717 to $87,964, employee health insurance, from $376,416 to $385,000 and Social Security, from $190,370 to $214,918.

County Treasurer Greg Burrell said these increases are a result of the county’s effort to improve fringe benefits for its employees.

While Warren County spends more of its revenue on employee benefits than many counties, it also has a larger employee base, meaning the county can’t spend as much on each employee, Burrell said.

“We’re still not anywhere near in line with what other counties give employees,” he said. “We’re trying to get it more in line and that’s part of the increase.”

The proposed budget also calls for spending $1 million on the Fort Webb project, which the Housing Authority of Bowling Green is pursuing. The Daily News reported in November that the authority plans to build 16 one-bedroom and four two-bedroom units for low-income seniors there.

This ultimately costs the county nothing because the funds came from a Community Block Development Grant.

“It’s a wash in terms of county funds,” Burrell said. “We bring in a million, we spend a million.”

Another prominent increase in the proposed budget is a rise in revenue from wage assessment tax, which rose from $1,055,000 to $1,500,000.

Burrell said the tax is paid by employers at the transpark, at a rate of 1.5 percent of their employees’ gross salary. The revenue has increased because the number of workers in the transpark has been on the rise, he said.

“There’s more jobs, so there’s more salaries, so there’s more revenue,” he said.

This revenue is transmitted from the transpark employers to the city of Bowling Green to Warren County to the Intermodal Transportation Authority, which runs the transpark.

The proposed budget will see spending on the commercial kitchen in the former Taylor Chapel AME Church building rise from the $1,000 slated for this fiscal year to $750,000.

Spending on the SoKy Marketplace has also increased, rising from $5,000 to $25,000. This increase mainly stems from a fence the fiscal court wants to build around the marketplace intended to keep children from running into the street. This fence is expected to cost $19,953, according to the agenda for the May 20 fiscal court meeting.

The fund for Warren County Parks and Recreation, which is also part of the recreation and culture fund, is roughly $2.5 million in the proposed budget, up from about $2.3 million.

Within the parks fund, the proposed budget sets aside $106,140 for the department to maintain the grounds at William Natcher Elementary School and Henry F. Moss Middle School.

Parks Director Chris Kummer said this is part of a deal with the Warren County Public Schools Board of Education that allows the department to use both schools’ athletic facilities for its own sports programs.

Before the court can make the budget official with a second reading, the Department of Local Government must approve it, Burrell said. It was sent to the department Thursday. Burrell expects the department to approve the proposal by the next fiscal court meeting, scheduled for June 17, he said.

“Overall, I’m pretty excited about the budget and the way the county sits financially at this point,” he said.

The court’s ability to propose a larger budget for next year is partly because of an increase in tax revenue, which Burrell attributed to a housing market that’s been growing stronger for the last several years.

He said the increase was made without raising taxes.

Buchanon also said he’s comfortable with the budget and was also happy that revenue is rising without an increase in any county taxes.

“Our growth is phenomenal,” he said. “It makes our economy better.”

He attributed this growth mainly to the county’s and the city’s working relationships with businesses in the area.

“Our county’s in greater condition and stronger condition than most counties in Kentucky,” Buchanon said.

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.